Thousands of stelae, false doors and coffins begin with the same words: ḥtp-dj-nsw. This is the offering formula, the prayer that provided the dead with food and drink forever. It uses honorific transposition (Honorific Transposition) and the indirect genitive (The Indirect Genitive).
Key idea
| Part | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| the opening | ḥtp-dj-nsw | an offering that the king gives |
| the god | wsjr nb ḏdw | (to) Osiris, lord of Busiris |
| or | jnpw tpj ḏw=f | (to) Anubis, who is upon his mountain |
| the gifts | prt-ḫrw t ḥnqt… | an invocation offering of bread and beer… |
| the dead person | n kꜣ n jmꜣḫ N | for the ka of the revered one, N |
Who gives what to whom
The idea behind the formula is a chain of giving. The king, as the one who made offerings to all the gods, gives an offering to a god of the dead; the god in turn provides for the deceased. In practice the family or a priest made the offerings at the tomb, but the formula placed them under the king’s name and the god’s care, and its words were thought to make the offerings real for the dead even when no food was brought.
The gods most often named are Osiris, wsjr nb ḏdw nṯr ꜥꜣ nb ꜣbḏw “Osiris, lord of Busiris, the great god, lord of Abydos”, and Anubis, jnpw tpj ḏw=f “Anubis who is upon his mountain” or nb tꜣ ḏsr “lord of the sacred land”, the necropolis.
Why it works
Common mistake
Worked example: Translate
- ḥtp-dj-nsw: “an offering that the king gives”.
- wsjr nb ꜣbḏw: “(to) Osiris, lord of Abydos”.
Answer: “An offering that the king gives (to) Osiris, lord of Abydos”
Worked example: The end
- n “for”, kꜣ “ka”, n “of” (the genitive), then the name.
Answer: “for the ka of N”